Writing in Book Sprints
Citation: Phil Barker, Lorna M. Campbell, Martin Hawksey (2013) Writing in Book Sprints. roceedings of OER13: Creating a Virtuous Circle (RSS)
Internet Archive Scholar (search for fulltext): Writing in Book Sprints
Download: http://publications.cetis.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/OER13 booksprints.pdf
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Summary
Authors had discussed writing a program report in book form, made little progress. One happened to hear of book sprint facilitator Adam Hyde.
"Over the course of the three days the authors wrote and edited a complete draft of a 21,000 word book" using the BookType software, facilitated by Hyde.
Book sprints are "short intense facilitated writing retreats" with little preparation, and most text written during the sprint rather than copied. Stages:
- concept mapping
- structuring
- writing
- composition (editing, re-structuring, proofing)
- publication
Facilitation is crucial to a successful sprint.
Authors reflect they enjoyed sprint, would set aside recommended 5 days.
Theoretical and Practical Relevance
Regarding the potential for using book sprints to create Open Educational Resources:
Rapid authoring works most successfully when the author s know what they want to write and do not need to undertake new research or develop new concepts; again this usually applies to academics and the topics they teach. The process of co-authoring is easiest when there is an accepted consensus around the concepts to be presented, or at least an acceptance of the diversity of opinions to be covered. It is easier to see co-authoring working better for articulating a recognised world-view, rather than for developing a personal thesis, but this fits well with the type of material frequently developed a s OERs.
Compare with Massively Distributed Authorship of Academic Papers which often involve new research and new views. Might facilitation be a common denominator?
